


Whispers

by Indig0



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android recycling camp, Gen, Ralph Saves Everyone, Sad Jerry, things almost get Very Bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27079702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0
Summary: The one good thing about being taken to the recycling center is that Ralph has an easier time ignoring the constant whispering that only he can hear.Jerry won't bring the others down with them, but they don't want to be alone in the end.RA9 is there when things get bad.
Relationships: Jerry(s) & Ralph (Detroit: Become Human)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Whispers

**Author's Note:**

> For the Weirdtober prompt: Whispering in your Ear

When he was forcibly removed from the house, Ralph tried and tried to calm his reeling mind. Ralph was going to die, it was going to hurt... but at least Kara and the little girl had gotten away. At least now Ralph wouldn’t have to... to fade away, and come back with his hand aching and the wall covered in writing he didn’t understand. ‘I AM ALIVE.’ Of course he was, why even write it? ‘RA9.’ He didn’t understand. And it wouldn’t stop. But that was just in the house, it had never happened anywhere else. He’d been afraid to leave, but maybe now he could have some quiet in his own head.

In the pen full of androids they forced Ralph to deactivate his skin. His skin!! They did it for him, in fact! Ralph hugged himself and picked at his fingers and... it wasn’t quiet. He didn’t know, he couldn’t be sure, but he heard what he’d written so much. There was crying and murmuring and that voice that spoke. “I AM ALIVE. RA9.”

Ralph looked around sharply. “W-what?”

Another android turned to look at him. “What?”

“You... said something, did you talk to Ralph?” He demanded.

“No, we were just looking... never mind. We’re Jerry.” They offered a hand with a tense smile.

Ralph stared at him. “Did you... hear? Hear the voice?”

“Um... we heard lots of voices, there are a lot of androids here.”

“No, not - another voice,” Ralph snapped irritably. “Not... maybe not an android, maybe... well, maybe. Ralph’s not sure.”

“What did they say?” Jerry asked.

“Nnnn...” Ralph didn’t want to repeat it, shouldn’t have said anything... His eyes darted around nervously, then he leaned in and whispered. “RA9. I am alive.”

Jerry watched him expectantly. “...We’re all alive, Ralph.”

“N-no, that’s... what it says, always it says that, mostly I write it but here...” He wrung his hands in agitation. “A voice, Jerry didn’t hear a voice?”

“We... we might have missed that one,” Jerry said slowly, LED yellow. “There are a lot of voices here.”

“Too loud, too many voices,” Ralph muttered, hugging himself.

“Could you show us?” Jerry held out their hand again. “And we’ll show you what we hear.”

The whispers were constant now, and they faded just a little when Jerry was talking to him, but they were always there. Ralph’s hands twitched uncertainly, then his hand shot out to grab Jerry’s tightly.

Ralph hadn’t interfaced with another android before, but Jerry was very good at it. The connection was patchy and lined with static, but Ralph inhaled deeply, his good eye wide.

“You’re never alone,” he breathed, the tremor in his voice gone. “Never alone, never lonely, but it’s quiet too...”

“That’s... strange, we didn’t hear that voice,” Jerry murmured. “It doesn’t seem like an internal channel, though. Not... quite. Do you mind if we do a systems check? We promise we won’t harm you.”

“Yes,” Ralph breathed. He felt like his feet were firmly on the ground, like nobody was staring at him, like he was steady and sure. He still heard the whispering, but it was softer now. “Yes, okay.”

Jerry’s check was like a breeze through maple leaves, soft and rustly. “Oh...”

“Oh?” Ralph prompted anxiously.

“There’s... well, you know there’s some damage, but nothing that should cause this. It’s... it was a command, like a compulsion, but we’ve never seen something like that manifest as a voice. Did you ever hear it before you deviated? Just the same voice?”

“N-no, never. Only now, only today, here.” Ralph gripped Jerry tighter. “Mostly before Ralph... didn't know what happened, just... nothing, then Ralph was writing on the wall. Can you... turn it off?”

Jerry shook their head slowly. “No... but -”

“You two!” a soldier barked, pointing a gun at them. “In line, now!”

Ralph cringed back, but Jerry squeezed his hand again. “We’ll go with you.”

“Ralph doesn’t want to die, no, oh no, it would be a great pity for Ralph to die,” he muttered, his own fear drowning out the whispers temporarily.

“We don’t want to die either,” Jerry murmured. “But... the worst thing, the thing we’ve always been most scared of... is being alone. We’re always together, the other Jerries are always there to reach out to... and that helps, but they’re not here now. But... we could be friends, couldn’t we?” They smiled faintly. “Just for now?”

Ralph blinked, and the voice stopped for a moment. “Jerry is afraid too,” he muttered. “Jerry is afraid like Ralph.”

“We’re... supposed to be cheerful all the time, but... it’s a little bit of a challenge right now, don’t you think?” Their smile was strained.

Ralph let out a loud, sharp laugh, then flinched when a soldier yelled at him to be quiet. “Y-y-yes!” he agreed, bouncing from foot to foot. “Yes, so much!”

“Most of the others are still free, still hiding,” Jerry whispered as they moved up in line. “We already said goodbye. We’re turning off the connection so... they won’t have to feel it.”

Ralph shuddered. “But then... then Jerry will be alone - n-no, Jerry won’t be alone, and Ralph won’t be alone.”

Jerry squeezed Ralph’s hand and there was a pulse of gratitude. “Ralph... you’re fighting those whispers, right? You’re trying not to listen?”

“Yes, Ralph was not so good at it at the house, but there was no one there and Ralph didn't hear, just... just it happened. Here, lots of androids, can’t... can’t fade away from them, can’t ignore this.” He giggled nervously.

“What if you did,” Jerry said slowly.

“Nnn, Ralph doesn’t want to.”

“No, but... but listen, this... whatever it is comes out when you’re not... guarding against it, right?”

Ralph bit his lip and nodded.

“Could it make things any worse here?”

They moved up in line again. Ralph looked around. He slowly shook his head, trembling slightly.

“We don’t know if it’ll help, but... why don’t you give it a try?”

Ralph shook his head quickly. “Ralph doesn’t like it, Ralph doesn’t want to... to lose himself, can’t let go with so many strangers here...”

“What if we keep watch?”

Ralph looked at the huge box he’d have to step into soon. He looked around at all the hopeless androids around him. He looked at the humans with their guns. He looked at Jerry.

“You can’t stop them. You can’t do anything,” he whispered.

“Maybe nothing can,” Jerry whispered back. “But we can... wake you up, pull you back if something goes wrong.”

Ralph’s face twisted in indecision as he stood there swaying. The machine ahead of them creaked and the hatch opened again. The whispers were soft, but still there.

“Don’t let go,” he whispered.

“We won’t,” Jerry assured him. They walked inside with the others in their row, and the doors slowly closed. Machines whirred around, scanning and preparing nanobots. Ralph took a deep breath and listened.

The whispers were silent.

“RA9?” he whispered shakily. “I... am alive?”

There was a faint murmur he couldn’t quite hear, and an odd stirring feeling in his mind.

It was going too slow. Ralph grabbed the long narrow scanner as it passed him and shrieked, “RA9!”

The other androids inside stirred and stared at him as the machine went dark and still.

“Is that it?” a voice whispered from the other side. “Am I dead?”

“Is this the afterlife?” another asked.

The machine sprang back to life and the chamber lit up. Ralph had dropped to the ground and was furiously tracing letters into the floor. Jerry watched, mesmerized. The other androids looked around uncertainly.

The rear hatch of the machine opened, revealing the mound of android bodies. Outside there was shouting, but down there, there was... movement.

“We are alive,” Ralph mumbled, LED flashing yellow and blue and red, his damaged eye sparking as he continued to write with his finger.

“We are,” Jerry agreed softly. They watched the other androids quickly regain their bearings and start helping the discarded ones back up the chute. One suddenly turned his skin back on, and the rest quickly did the same. Ralph wasn’t paying attention, and Jerry hardly dared interrupt him. There were gunshots outside, but when they stopped, the front hatch opened. The humans were gone or lying dead on the ground. The androids were looking around in a daze.

Ralph hadn’t stopped, and now the whispers were shouts, and only for him, but as long as he kept writing, as long as he kept RA9 alive, they would all be alive, even the dead ones would be alive again, they could get away, it was worth the whispering...

When Jerry managed to shake him out of his trance, the last of the other androids was fleeing.

“Ralph, come on, we have to go,” Jerry urged him.

“What? Y-yes, go, we should!” Ralph staggered to his feet, then paused. “Wait. Wait, Jerry, the... mm. When you and the other Jerries are apart, you said you can still talk, still... feel each other?”

“Ah - yes, I... good thought, I turned that back on! Let’s go!”

“No, Ralph... can you... show Ralph? How?”

“We... really need to get out of here, Ralph.” Jerry looked around nervously.

“Show Ralph,” Ralph said, and there was an odd metallic echo to his voice as he stuck out a hand.

“...Okay,” Jerry mumbled, taking Ralph’s hand again. Ralph’s forehead wrinkled in uncertainty, but then he reached out and put his other hand over the chamber’s control panel.

“...Ralph can’t explain, but Ralph can show,” he mumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“Mm, this machine, this thing,” the WR600 muttered, shaking his head. “RA9, it knows, it’s alive now too. But... there are others all over, many in the city. And now...” He paused, tilting his head, then grinned. “Now all connected, all with RA9.”

Jerry stared at him. “You can... do that?”

“What? No, oh no, Ralph can’t do that.” He shook his head dismissively. “Ralph just told it, said all the whispers, wrote over its code. Showed it what Jerry does. Then it showed all the others.” He shrugged. “Don’t know. It’s done now, though. We should go, hide now.”

“Y-yeah!” Jerry agreed, hurrying to follow Ralph as he ran out the gate and into the dark city where the tide of the revolution was quickly turning.

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me on Tumblr!](http://anomalous-appliances.tumblr.com/)


End file.
